Q: You always recommend walking -- but is it enough to stay fit? What else should I be doing? I’m 60 and in pretty good shape. -- Gladys T., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
A: Walking can keep you fit when it provides moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise that raises your heart rate and makes you sweat. You can do that with an intermittent walking routine that combines moving at your maximum speed for, say, 30 seconds up to 3 minutes, and then returning to a moderate pace (100 steps a minute) for between 2.5 and 10 minutes and repeating your pattern for a total of 20 to 60 minutes. Then, for a significantly younger RealAge or ActualAge, you need to add in strength training a couple of times a week.
But walking by itself has exciting benefits, especially at 10,000 steps a day. It reduces joint pain and helps prevent Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cancer and osteoarthritis. And Harvard Medical School says that walking for at least 20 minutes a day, five days a week can reduce the number of days you are sick by 43%, compared to folks who only walk once a week or less.
Your heart health also benefits: A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that getting 9,000 to 10,500 steps a day offered max protection from cardiovascular disease and any step count above 2,200 a day reduced the risk of CVD compared to being sedentary. Another study found that walking for 40 minutes, two to three times a week slashes your risk of hospitalization for heart failure.
Walking also reduces women’s risk of breast cancer by 14%, according to an American Cancer Society study. And a study in the journal Appetite says that a 15-minute walk can even tamp down cravings for chocolate and reduce stress eating. So don’t walk away from the amazing benefits of a regular walking routine. LongevityPlaybook.com’s free newsletter and Dr. Oz’s blog at iHerb.com, “More Movement May Increase Longevity,” can help you get started.
* * *
Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of www.longevityplaybook.com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to www.iHerb.com, the world’s leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively.
(c)2024 Michael Roizen, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.